where do I go to invest in stocks and bonds?
mime48 asked:
I am interested in investing my money wisely. I am considereing stocks and bonds but I dont know where to go or what company. I live in Baton Rouge, LA. What would you suggest?
This entry was posted
on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Investing.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I am interested in investing my money wisely. I am considereing stocks and bonds but I dont know where to go or what company. I live in Baton Rouge, LA. What would you suggest?
February 15th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
scottrade.com
February 17th, 2009 at 12:57 am
There are a lot of companies on line as well as brick and mortar places.
Online - Etrade, Sharebuilder, etc…
Off-line - Charles Schwab, Ameriprise, TD Waterhouse (these also have on-line), etc…
Just going to a brokerage firm is not enough to begin investing wisely.
If you do not know about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, REITS, Treasury Bills, CDs etc… a brokerage house will be of little help to you other than to offer you a selection of mutual funds that typically underperform the market.
Start learning about investing and what the stock market is, and decide what you specifically are looking for from your investment (20% ROI annually? More? Less? How much risk are you willing to take? Can you lose everything you have invested and still be ok?) an then go talk to a firm.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
If you don’t know very much yet, I’d recommend you start out investing in stocks and bonds via mutual funds. You can pick stock-based mutual funds either using indexes such as Vanguard’s S&P 500 index (VINIX), or actively managed funds such as Bruce Berkowitz’ Fairholme Fund (FAIRX) or Vanguard’s Windsor II (VWNFX).
Bond funds can be indexes as well — for example, Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund (VBISX). But for bonds, I’d recommend you wait and just do stocks for now. The bond market is a little iffy, caught between low yield (due to low interest rates) and possible price drops in the near future (due to the Fed’s eventual raising of interest rates).
All funds mentioned above can be purchased directly from their respective companies. Vanguard in particular has low fees, relatively modest minimum investments, a wide variety of offerings, and an excellent reputation.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Look for a financial advisor in the yellow pages. Smith Barney is a good company, also Edward Jones. Look for one that has been around a long time. Established companys are safer than new ones.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:06 am
First read as much material on investing as possible. Three books are “How to Buy Stocks” by Louis Engel & Brendan Boyd and “Gaining on the Market” by Charles Rolo and lastly “Wall Street Words” by David L. Scott. Check for them on amazon.com if they are out of circulation.Then you should be able to contact a brokerage firm (just look in the Yellow Pages) they are in the phone book. Charles Schwab would not be a bad place for you to start. Also Barrons Financial Weekly is an excellent source of information. So is Standard and Poors Security Owners Stock Guide. Do not be afraid to ask questions. At this time “index funds” that track the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be a great way to get your feet wet at investing without taking any radical risks. Good Luck!
February 20th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Investing in “individual” stocks takes a lot of knowledge and practice; so I would not suggest doing this until you understand completely how the stock markets work.
Vanguard.com is ideal for long term investors who want to learn about mutual funds, index funds, and exchange-traded-funds (ETFs). Trading funds is less risky than trying to trade “individual” stocks.
Unless you plan on spending everyday of your life looking at stock charts trying to determine the best time to get in and out of “individual” stocks, I would look into some sort of fund.
Also be very careful about asking for stock tips online. Most are probably worthless or contain unethical motives. Do not fall for any Pump-and-Dump scams.
As far as books go, I actually started out with the Investing for Dummies books, and they definitely pushed me in the right direction. To many other books have their own agendas in my opinion.
The websites below all contain plenty of FREE information to get you started in the right direction.